Europe Defence News

Finland; Green light for final tenders for €400M future Corvettes program

The logistics command of the Finnish Defence Forces has received permission from the Defence Ministry to request the final tenders for new state-of-the-art military ships for the Finnish Navy. The 400-million-euro Squadron 2020 combat system will include four new ice-breaking missile corvettes, along with various weapons, sensors, and integrated command and control systems.

The final tender requests are the result of process that began last summer, when three suppliers were chosen from a field of eight to participate in the final bidding: Sweden's Saab, Germany's Atlas Electronik, and Canada's Lockheed Martin Canada.

The combat systems on the ships will include surface-to-surface missile systems, torpedoes, guns and sea mines. The Ministry of Defence announced in July that it had decided to purchase the Israeli Gabriel missile system after a round of competitive bidding. The torpedoes will be ordered from Saab, in Sweden.

The ships will eventually be fitted out with new surface-to-air missile systems, which will be ordered later.